(Note: When Garnett says jerk, it comes out in cruder fashion, mostly because he's well-versed in minute-long strings of expletives.)

“He just wants me to be aggressive and demand respect and attack the rim — that way of being an (expletive),” Green told the Boston Herald before scoring seven points with five rebounds in Monday night’s 101-95 win over the Bulls. “He’s somebody I look up to, so I take those words and I use them to help my game and move on to the next step.”

As noted previously in this space, the key for Green isn't to sharpen his elbows and use them as weapons or drop in a 3-point stance and draw an unnecessary roughness penalty for a helmet-to-noggin hit on Luol Deng. When the Celtics encourage Green to be more of an (expletive), they are actually just coaxing him to be more active on both sides of the basketball. They are encouraging him to cut without the ball, box out when a shot goes up and keep his body between his man and the basket at all times.

As the Herald noted, Green has heard for his entire career - even dating back to his college days at Georgetown - that he should be more willing to put his mark on games. But he said the words mean more coming from Garnett.

“It’s one thing for somebody else to say it," Green said, "but for it to come from Kevin Garnett, that’s different."